Your Risk for Breast Cancer

The other day, I met a woman whose mother, sister and aunt had all been diagnosed with breast cancer.  When I asked if she had taken the genetic test that would tell her if she had inherited the gene that might make her a candidate for breast cancer, she said, “No.  I’m just going to leave it to God…  Plus I eat healthy.”  Hello!!  This is a woman who clearly does not have the survival gene.

It is still shocking, to me, that she has no desire to know if she is at higher risk of getting breast cancer, maybe I should say of preventing breast cancer, or passing the gene on to her daughter.  Knowledge is power, girlfriends.  Oh, what I would have given to have had that knowledge BEFORE I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  It was four years after my breast cancer diagnosis when I discovered I carried one of the breast cancer genes; I did not hesitate a millisecond before saying, take the other breast, NOW!!  My decision to have a preventative mastectomy was a proactive stance in my fight against breast cancer, and it was empowering.  That mastectomy was on my terms, not breast cancer’s.

Even if there is not a history of breast cancer in your family, (I had no family history but I carried the BRAC2 gene) please, consider getting a BracAnalysis to see if you carry the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.  It is easy—a simple blood test.  Most health insurance plans pay for genetic testing.  It may save your life, or the life of someone you love.  Do not be one of those women who have the “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” gene.  Be smart: Stop breast cancer before it starts.  For further information, go to Myriad Genetic Laboratories, http://www.bracnow.com/